Killer organ-laden soundtrack cut with a wordless vocal provided by a male chorus, and featuring the incessant cackling of a young Candace Bergen.
from Live for Life (United Artists) available on CD - A Man and a Woman/Live for Life (DRG)
21 Sep 01 ·tempted: Yes!
I've played this in my dj sets several times. Its character and the sense of comedy, not to mention the grooviness, makes it a great "interlude" between some, er, more serious songs. 24 Sep 01 ·tinks: it's a staple in my dj sets, as well! glad to see that others have picked up on it, also!
"Strange fruit hanging/from the poplar tree"...one of the most haunting songs ever written. Holiday recorded this song about a lynching several times throughout her career, but this original version features a performance so intense that it is impossible to beat.
available on CD - 1939-40 (Classics)
07 Dec 05 ·Swinging London: Nina Simone's version of this is also very beautiful. 16 Apr 08 ·space: An extremely important and agonizingly beautiful song.
Great song with really strange lyrics on par with Love's "The Red Telephone": "Her belly button was her mouth/and she tasted what she'd speak/but the funny thing is what happened to her nose/it grew until it reached all of her toes/now when people say her feet smell they mean her nose." Another version was recorded by Lou Reed on his "Transformer" LP a few years later.
A different version than the one that appears on "Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space", this one features a slightly slower tempo, a full gospel choir and some lushly arranged strings and horns. Absolutely beautiful...a longer instrumental version also appears on the EP.
11 May 01 ·delicado: this was on my list to recommend too...but I've only heard the album version...what an astounding track! Will have to check out the EP...
Excellent organ-heavy song centered around the rhythm of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle". Nice and fluid. Everything that is great about Jamaican soul in one neat little package, from Lee Perry's debut album as producer.